A Juárez woman who disappeared four years ago was recognized in a Spanish-language talk show two years ago and might be living in the United States, said activists involved with mothers of missing persons.

They said Brenda Berenice García Castillo, who was 17 at the time she disappeared, was seen in the audience of a Spanish talk show filmed in Los Angeles in February 2009, a little more than a month after she was reported missing.

Although family members told Mexican authorities in 2011 that the girl might be in the U.S. and gave them a copy of the clip, it was not until a few days ago that the Attorney General's Office, or PGR, began working on García Castillo's case, activists said.

The PGR in Mexico City did not return calls Friday.

REPORTER

Lorena Figueroa

According to Mexican media, 20 investigators and agents from the PGR arrived Wednesday in Juárez to look into the disappearance of García Castillo, who has been reported missing since Jan. 6, 2009.

That day she left her home in the Finca Bonita neighborhood in east Juárez and took a bus to leave a job application at a jewelry store downtown, where she had worked before, according to news archives.

"There was no reason for her to leave her home. She had a one-month-old boy and she left him with her mother when she left to find a job," said Juárez attorney Francisca Galván, an activist and legal adviser for Comité de Madres y Familiares de Mujeres Desaparecidas, an organization composed of mothers and relatives of women reported missing.

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She said that at the time of her disappearance, García Castillo was living with the father of her child.

García Castillo's family did not know where she was until two years ago when they were shown the clip.

A family member recognized García Castillo when she was watching a rerun episode of "Historias Calientes de Hotel" from the José Luis Sin Censura shown in México on May 18, 2011, Galván said.

"The relative recognized Brenda Berenice when the host of the show gave her the microphone and she began talking," Galván said.

The show -- a Spanish-language version of the "Jerry Springer Show" -- was canceled in September 2011 after complaints from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

But family members, with the help of other organizations in the United States, were able to find a copy of the rerun and gave it that same year to the PGR's Special Prosecution Office for Crimes Against Women and Human Trafficking, or FEVIMTRA, and the Chihuahua Special Prosecution Office for Crimes Against Women, Galván said.

Last week, a PGR prosecutor confirmed to García Castillo's mother, Bertha Alicia Castillo, that the girl in the clip was her daughter, she added.

"The public prosecutor should have given us updates on the case, not the same thing that we have known for two years," Galván said.

Castillo and the parents of other missing women began a walk Tuesday from Juárez to Chihuahua City to demand Gov. César Duarte give updates on inquiries of their daughters' cases. Since then, dozens of other relatives of the disappeared and activists, including Galván, have joined the march.

The Chihuahua Special Prosecution Office's spokeswoman, Silvia Nájera, said that the investigation on this case continues, without giving any specifics.

Nájera said the state's special prosecution office is waiting for FEVIMTRA's investigation "so that we can compare it with our own inquiries and work from there."

She said her office has not made any contact with U.S. officials to try to find García Castillo in the United States because that is the responsibility of Mexican federal agencies -- in this case the PGR.

A spokeswoman from the the FBI in Los Angeles said she did not know whether Mexican authorities have requested the FBI's help in the case.

"The FBI offers assistance to foreign investigations when asked," she said.

Lorena Figueroa may be reached at lfigueroa@elpasotimes.com; 546-6129.